A new reliability analysis method for load-sharing k-out-of-n: F system based on load-strength model

Highlights: • The component load distribution variation caused by the component failures is directly used to reflect the load-sharing effect. • Copula method is used to describe the variable correlation without the independence assumption. • The traditional k-out-of-n: F system reliability model has been improved to adapt the reliability modeling for the load-sharing system. • The proposed method extends the application range of the load-strength model. -- Abstract: The traditional reliability analysis method for the load-sharing system is mainly based on the component failure rate and assumed lifetime distribution. However, the relationship between the component failure rate and component load is difficult to determine since the time-varying failure rates and corresponding load samples have to be measured. Therefore, we propose a new reliability analysis method for the load-sharing k-out-of-n: F system based on the load-strength model, which also considers the correlation between the load and strength. The main idea of the proposed method lies in the distribution variation of the component load which can directly reflect the load-sharing effect since the load is the basic variable in the load-strength model. The results of a numerical case show that the load-sharing effect and the correlation between the load and strength have significant influences on the system reliability. Furthermore, a practical case is given to demonstrate the availability of the proposed method compared with the traditional method.